India, March 19 -- Plastic pollution is causing a health crisis in seabirds, according to a new study. which found that ingesting plastic causes neurodegeneration similar to Alzheimer's in chicks as young as 90 days old. The study, published in the journal Science Advances, also discovered that chicks had cell rupture and multi-organ failure, affecting the stomach, liver, brain and kidneys.

Researchers from the University of Tasmania analysed short-tailed shearwaters (Ardenna tenuirostris), a marine wildlife species from Lord Howe Island, Australia, between 2022 and 2024.

Describing the findings as alarming, scientists who studied seabird chicks under 90 days old reported that their health was heavily compromised. The chicks ingested p...